Iran defies United States with increased budget for missile programme

In a session this morning, 240 Iranian lawmakers voted for the bill to confront "America's terrorist and adventurous actions" in the region.

On August 2, US President Donald Trump signed into law a bill by Congress that imposes new sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea.

The bill will allocate $260m (£200m) to Iran's ballistic missile programme and the same amount to Quds Force, the special forces unit of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.

"Iran will never pay the price of violating the JCPOA", spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Hossein Naghavian said, adding that Washington "is after imposing the cost of killing the nuclear deal".

According to the bill, Iran's combined government and military apparatus is tasked with devising a comprehensive strategic plan to counter the "US threats" within a period of six months following ratification of the bill.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the bill passed on Sunday had the support of the government.

Iran Majlis passes motion in response to US sanctions

Mr Trump has recently backed away from his key campaign promise to withdraw from the nuclear agreement.

Iran denies its missile programme violates a United Nations resolution that endorsed Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and calls upon the Islamic Republic not to conduct activities related to ballistic missiles created to deliver nuclear weapons.

The motion was designed in view of continued bellicose policies of the U.S. towards Iran, and its persisting measures aimed at endangering peace and security in the region, it said.

This legislation was described as an effort to "counter America's terrorist and adventurist actions in the region" and heralded as a justified response to new sanctions adopted by the United States earlier this summer.

A number of recent close encounters between U.S. ships and Iranian vessels in the Gulf have added to the tensions between the two countries.